SLCene Suggests: tUnE-yArDs at The Urban Lounge

In the modern music business, you rarely hear of an artist taking their time between albums anymore. In fact, full-length albums are almost a foreign concept to the young music fans used to consuming their music one downloaded song at a time. Merrill Garbus has certainly released plenty of winning singles under her pseudonym tUnE-yArDs. Songs like “Gangsta” and “Business” helped propel her 2011 album whokill to the top of many critics lists of that year’s best releases. Whokill was clearly a breakthrough release for Garbus, but it came out three years ago. This month marks the long-awaited return of Garbus after resting up following two years of solid touring. The album is called Nikki Nack, and it retains the vibe of Garbus’ past work while expanding her sonic palette. For the first time, Garbus worked with outside producers—people who have produced the likes of Alicia Keys, Shakira and M.I.A. The results are predictably experimental, and predictably excellent. Sylvan Esso opens the show.